


Frostbitten

by SealandRocks



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Future, Future Technology, Grocery Shopping, M/M, Oblivious Katsuki Yuuri, Pining, Pining Victor Nikiforov, Rain, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, Trains, cryogenics au, it will end happy though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-04-04 11:25:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14019243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SealandRocks/pseuds/SealandRocks
Summary: The year is 2025. Viktor Nikiforov, with nothing left in his life worth living for, signs up for an experimental cryogenics procedure. However, what was supposed to be a six-month committment ends up being extended signifigantly. Now, alive in a different time and with the help of a young man named Yuuri, Viktor must struggle to find his place in the world.





	1. Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> I have broken my primary writing rule and started a series! My friend Alyssa pitched this au to me, and I became enraptured with it. Let me know what you think, feedback is very appreciated! And just as a warning, there will mentions of suidical thoughts throughout this story, but nothing actually happens and I will not be graphic about anything. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I have writing it so far!

Two options sat neatly divided on the desk in front of Viktor. Each was confined to its own side of the small table, leaving a tiny space between them for a list of pros and cons. Viktor didn’t feel like wasting precious slips of paper for it, so the list had been scrawled in pen on the desk itself, each letter heavy with careful thought.

The first pile sat on the right side of the desk, every item carefully supported by the ones around it. Mainly, the pile consisted of papers, pamphlets, maps, and bulleted lists Viktor had compiled from the libraries he did his research in. Underneath the pile of neon paper was all the money he had to his name, which didn’t say much. Most of his money had gone to medical bills. But he would need every penny if he chose to be a guinea pig for the development of cryogenic hibernation. Traveling halfway across Russia was more expensive than it used to be. 

The second, possibly more inviting option sat to his left. It would certainly be the easier path to chose. Only three things sat on this side of the table: a letter to his mother, a letter to his lawyer, and the heavy block of iron his grandfather had called a pistol. Really, it was more like an anvil, but Viktor wasn’t picky. Anything that could reflect lamplight that ominously was enough for him. All it had to do was fire one bullet anyway, it wasn’t like he was going to war. 

Viktor sighed. Tonight he had to make a decision. There was only one meal left in the kitchen, just enough for dinner now or breakfast on a train to St. Petersburg. He would count himself lucky if it didn’t give him food poisoning. 

_You won’t get food poisoning if you don’t live to digest it_ , his brain supplied rather unhelpfully. If he was looking to get away from pain, he would have downed the rest of his pain medication and had done with it long ago. No, pain seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive these days, receiving more if he decided to live seemed to add a poetic irony to the situation that Viktor didn’t like. 

Once upon a time Viktor had loved poetry. Now it tasted like sand.

Viktor managed to tear his eyes away from the cold steel of the pistol and looked to the other side of the desk. He stared blankly at a green flier, long ago having memorized what it said. Freezing people and waking them up later completely unscathed had sounded like something out of a science fiction story when Viktor had first heard about it, and it didn’t sound much better now. The entire idea was preposterous, but there were people that would swear their lives on the science behind it. Now that they had successfully frozen and woke mice and cats, the government had no reason not to initiate human testing. After all, this type of technology could revolutionize industries across the globe.

The only problem was that no humans had been successfully woken up yet. The people in charge stood by the idea that this was normal and everything would proceed just as planned, if on a longer time scale, but people were getting antsy. Unlike most people, Viktor wasn’t concerned with being woken up again. According to some quick research, it appeared that everyone else on the volunteer staff had that in common with him. No one played with fire unless they weren’t afraid to be burnt. 

Viktor sighed again, rubbing his temples. This should have been easy. He had been thinking about it for years, the least he could do for himself was make the choice without any thought. But here he was, hesitating. 

The last entry on the ‘pros’ list caught his eye. For both the gun and the pamphlet, the wording was exactly the same.

_You could die._

Viktor only knew one thing: he no longer wanted to be in this world. He wanted to leave and be erased from everything. He wanted to sleep again.

A scene crossed his memory, bright and vibrant. There was a sun setting, salty waves kissing his cheeks as they broke across the storm break before him. The sky was a dazzling shade of red, bright as the rubies his mother adored so much. It was an omen of good weather, of better days to come, and Viktor smiled into it. 

Viktor gasped. When had that been? He hadn’t been to the sea in years. Looking down, small puddles of water had appeared on the desk. Viktor looked up to see where the ceiling was leaking, and felt the fresh tears slip out of his eyes and drip off his chin. 

Ah. So that was why he was hesitating. Viktor picked up the green paper and his heart started beating a little faster. He must had made up his mind long ago and just now realized it.

He did not smile as he pushed the gun and letters into the top drawer of his desk. There wasn’t time. Viktor scooped the meager amount of bills into his pocket and stood. There wasn’t much in his apartment, and even less that he felt like taking with him. The only thing he stopped to pick up was a small locket. His mother had given it to him, long ago, before Viktor couldn’t remember the smell of their house. He slipped it over his neck, picked up his small lunch, and walked out of the door.

Leaving his key in the mailbox felt like cutting off a noose. He allowed himself to smile slightly, glad to be done with the moldy place he had learned to call home, and slipped away into the November night.

~

Viktor hated white. It was a nasty color that reminded him of everything that was wrong with the world. The worst part was that the white wasn’t even classily done. No one had varied the shade just a slight bit, nor had they created some sort of winter scene to appeal to his love of snow. It was just white. Viktor wanted to smear mud on every wall of this facility.

According to the sniffles and sounds around him, he wasn’t alone in this sentiment. Maybe he could lead some sort of revolution to paint the walls any other color. If he could rouse any emotion of sympathy for the people around him long enough to gather the army, he might have done it too. As it were, Viktor couldn’t find the energy to really care.

When Viktor had been led back from the entry screening process to the volunteer waiting room, he had expected something more exciting. Maybe there would be scientists in lab coats holding beakers full of glowing liquids, or groups of military personnel whispering about something top secret while keeping a close guard on their weapons. He had expected at least a coffee maker, not this empty, lukewarm, white hospital waiting room. 

Someone behind Viktor started crying softly, making annoyance could his brain. It wasn’t like people were signed up without their consent. No one should have been here who wasn’t ready to die. 

Just as he thought that, a door on the far side of the room opened, breaking the monotone walls briefly to bring in just a tiny bit more color. Thank God, he had been staring at a man’s yellow shirt for thirty minutes just for a need of any sort of stimulation. 

Viktor felt his stomach drop before he registered what was happening. A line of children was being led through the room, exiting from what appeared to be smaller waiting room. Single file, they were paraded across the room and out the other side, where medical equipment was laying in wait. Viktor caught the eyes of a child just as she walked in front of him. He smiled gently, but was met with nothing in return. It was a half second before he noticed that her eyes weren’t in focus. She was blind. 

A boy followed the small girl, scratching furiously at his arms. His skin might had been some shade of olive once, but now it was flaky and white from his constant assault. A trickle of blood ran down his temple from where he had scratched last. The stark red reminded Viktor of the sunset from his memories. 

One after the other, each child was led through the room and into the hallway beyond, each more silent than Viktor had ever heard a child be. 

“The rejects.” A voice next to him growled, shattering the silence Viktor had so carefully cultivated during the past hours. He looked to his side and was met by sharp blue eyes and straw hair. 

“What?” Viktor’s voice sounded alien to himself. 

“They’re the children that families don’t want. The ones that weren’t supposed to happen. Bastard children or cracks in the new system of baby-making the hospitals started doing. They’re the undesirables,” The boy beside him frowned, arms crossing over his chest, “Their parents most likely cast them into here, if any of them weren’t orphans.”

“That’s disgusting.” Viktor felt anger rising in his chest. How could anyone throw away a child like that? Could anyone care less about a life they had created? 

“This entire planet doesn’t deserve to live.” The straw-haired boy wasn’t looking at Viktor anymore, but his voice was strong with emotion. This boy didn’t look like he was even 16 himself, but something about the way he sat like he was the leader of all the adults around him made Viktor think questioning him wasn’t a wise idea. Instead, he made a noise of approval and let his gaze return to the man with the yellow shirt.

Eventually, after either two minutes or five hours of boredom, someone dressed like a doctor came and had all the people in the room follow him. They were led back into a room with a dozen tables set up like a mortuary. Viktor could sense the people around him that started to have second thoughts, and that alone made him want to grin like a maniac. 

Oh, to have enough life left in him to even want to have second thoughts. The idea almost had him laughing. Those poor people.

Viktor barely even registered the following procedures. The people doing them looked as empty and drained as Viktor felt, so he didn’t even bother committing it to memory. The only important thing to him right now was the cold table below him, the lukewarm air around him that was much too chilly when he was in just his underwear, and the hot weight of the gold locket hanging at his breast. For all he cared, this was the entire world. 

Some people around him were already being put into induced comas. Soft breathing and snoring was starting to fill the room, but apparently the nurses weren’t keen on moving anyone out until everyone was ready. 

“Now, young man, I am required to give you a rundown of what’s going to happen.” A doctor said to the man on the table next to Viktor. He turned his head and found a young boy with bright hair and angry eyes glaring at the doctor.

“Why can’t you just put me under, you bastard?”

Viktor felt something like pride in his chest, and he suddenly wondered if he would have taken this boy under his wing as a younger brother in another life. 

“It’s just procedure. Now, you’re going to be injected with enough anesthesia to make you fall asleep, and then you’re going to be put inside a cryo chamber for your 6 month volunteer period. Following that, we will revive you again and bring you to readjustment training. You may experience some discomfort upon being revived, as your bodily functions will be lowered to the point of near death. You won’t visibly age, but your organs aren’t going to be very happy. Vomiting and extreme intestinal pain is common. Memory loss and organ damage is less likely, but still an option. It is also possible that your volunteer experience may exceed 6 months, depending on how resistant you body is to being revived. I need verbal consent that you understand and are willing to do this procedure.”

That explained why it was taking so long. Why didn’t they do this at the beginning and have done with it already? The boy, for his part, didn’t look at all phased by the list of things that could go wrong.

“Yes, I agree, now put me under before I grab that needle and do it myself.” The boy snapped from the table, sticking his arm out. The doctor nodded and motioned for the nurses to put him under, then moved on to Viktor’s table.

“I’m required to give you a run-”

“I heard what you said to him, just do it, I agree.” Viktor frowned and stuck out his arm like the other had before. The doctor shook his head and smiled slightly, calling over more nurses. 

One of them, a rather cute boy with black hair, pushed a needle into his arm and slowly filled his veins with clear liquid. The world started to blur, and finally Viktor felt himself slip into blissful nothingness.

~

Viktor had never imagined death would be so bright. Reds and yellows and blues flitted across his vision, filling with a calm that he hadn’t felt since before the accident. There was so much light that he felt like he was drowning in it. He absolutely adored it. Finally, there was no pain, no turmoil, just light. 

Something tugged on the edge of his consciousness. It was blunt and unpleasant and Viktor pushed it away instantly. For a time, it went away, and he was left in the light again. Then it was back, hard and painful. Viktor recoiled and felt the motion through his world of light and beyond into what he remembered was his body. No, he didn’t want to wake up yet. He pushed away again, and the sensation was gone.

He had almost forgotten about the intrusion altogether when the attack came. The blunt feeling ripped through him, shattering the light he adored into tiny crystals. Viktor gasped, the fresh air filling his lungs burning like vodka. He coughed, then gagged on something solid and unforgiving. Bile rose in his throat at Viktor took another deep breath in.

Consciousness was forced onto Viktor like a weight. His eyes shot open, then instantly closed again as the brightness became too much. He was gagging again, but as much as he tried to move his arms they stayed stubbornly at his side. Panic filled him as Viktor realized he had no idea where he was, nor how the cryogenic reviving process was supposed to happen. 

Something popped in front of him, sending ripples through him that felt like cracking a joint. Suddenly the weight on his chest was lifting, and the world was coming into focus again. Viktor pushed his arms up and found he could move them just enough to press against the walls descending down around him. He tried to push forward, pressing his head to the ceiling, and felt it give. His head slipped past and into where the ceiling must had popped, and suddenly the world was real again. 

Viktor coughed and gagged once more. He realized then that there was a tube in his throat, uncomfortably itching at his insides in a way he detested. He gingerly pulled at the tube, and his body revolted. He pulled again, determined, and slowly the tube slid out. It was longer than he expected, but he didn’t regret taking it out as he took in his first deep breaths of crisp air. 

The room around him beeped and hummed like a movie. Above him, a monitor flashed words in a language he didn’t understand. Oxygen machines and IV’s and various medical equipment littered the room. He was sitting on some sort of table, different from the one in the lab he had fallen asleep in, nestled into some sort of yellow plastic bag. His hazy mind thought it looked like a body bag filled with water. Ice crystals clung onto the metal fastenings around the plastic, but the water itself was warm. It was even warm enough to make the room he was exposed to cold. Beside his bed, a table was set with about half a dozen coffee mugs and empty bowls. A couch was pressed against the opposite wall, the pillows askew. Not a single wall was white.

Something ugly and painful rose in Viktor’s stomach. Before he registered what was happening, he was doubling over the side of the table, vomiting into the spilled water below, turning it milky white. He must have been out for some time considering all his food had been digested. Viktor mused over this as he vomited again, and again, dry heaving over the side of the table as the burning pain in his lungs increased. 

The beeping sounds were too much. He had to get away from them, he couldn’t think with noise like this. Viktor turned to the other side of the table. An IV hung there, connected to him with a thin capillary. A dozen buttons and tags made their way up the length of holder, but Viktor couldn’t read the description on any of them. Was this Japanese? 

Fighting down a wave of nausea, Viktor uncovered his legs and swung them over the side of the table. Every body part was screaming at him now, and he was very tempted just to lay back down and go back to sleep. He hopped onto the floor before he could be tempted further, determined to find someone to turn off the noisy machines.

The crash as he crumbled to the floor was too loud for his head. Viktor cried out, curling into a ball in the soiled water he landed in. It was several seconds before he realized that he wasn’t just crying out, but screaming. As soon as he realized, he lowered his volume to a dull groan that took some of the overstimulation away.

A door slid open effortlessly and someone ran in, saying something urgently in a language he couldn’t decipher. Viktor just kept moaning, dimly registering the hands that were touching his back and arms. They felt warm and nice on his wet skin. Viktor stopped moaning, relaxing into the touch. 

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. It’s ok.” The voice above him was confused and scared, but the English was soothing enough to let Viktor pass out again.


	2. New Names and Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor has been dropped into a new time and place, with new people and new technology. But all he'd really like to do is be able to hold down food again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's happening! This is now officially a series! I mean, I planned on this being one anyway, but chapter 2 is always exciting. Do you sense an impending character development arc? Because I sure do! Let's get this stone rolling!

The next time Viktor woke up was much more pleasant. The smell of crisp linens and flowers surrounded him. His body didn’t hurt if he stayed still, so Viktor kept motionless and for the first time let himself wake up gently. Softness surrounded his body, warm and dry. For a while he could pretend he was back in the world of light, and happiness flooded him.

A machine to his right beeped, but the noise was more tolerable now. Viktor opened his eyes, wincing as they adjusted. He was a different room now, one that looked more like a bedroom. Although the bed he was laying in may have biased him significantly. 

The door opened, and a man with black hair and glasses came in. He was dressed casually, unlike the scientist Viktor was expecting. 

“Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling? I was afraid we were going to lose you when I found you on the floor.” The man had an American accent, which surprised Viktor a little. The interaction was too normal for the sci fi movie he was living in. 

“Where am I?” Viktor was startled by his own voice and touched a hand to his throat. It sounded too scratchy to be his own. 

The man glanced to the side, his shoulders tensing. It looked like he wanted to be anywhere but right here.

“You’re about twenty minutes outside of Kyoto.”

Viktor dug through his knowledge of Russian geography and came up blank. Slowly, a different realization started to dawn on him. 

“I’m in Japan?” He whispered, his voice softer than he had intended. No, this was no good. He didn’t have the money to get home! Not that he really had one to begin with. 

“Yes. Look, Viktor, I’m kind of in a hurry, I just wanted to see if you were alright.” The man shuffled a bit in his spot, his hands fidgeting at his sides as he began to step back towards the door. Viktor looked him up and down, and was struck with the feeling that he knew him. Hadn’t he been at the facility when Viktor was put under? Yes, that was it! He was a bit older, but this man had definitely been there.

“I know you. You were the nurse that put me under. Why am I in Japan?” Viktor tried to sit up and lean forward, but his stomach revolted violently. He gagged, clutching at the sheets around him. A bucket was being pushed in front of him and Viktor took it without question, heaving nothing but poisoned air into it. He was all at once starving.

“I suppose that answers how you’re doing. Don’t move so quickly, your body is still waking up. I’ll have my dad come up to talk to you, I’m sure he can-”

Viktor grabbed the front of the man’s shirt, pulling him in close. He smelled like cleaning solution and flowers. It was too pleasant a scent for the terrified look in his eyes. 

“Why won’t you answer me? I met you, six months ago in Russia. You put me into this coma, now why am I in Japan?” He growled, patience running thinner by the second. Anger flashed behind the man’s eyes. 

“I have never met you before. I haven’t been to Russia in years, and I assure you that you were not there. I can almost promise you that you’re thinking of my father. He worked with you before I was born.” The man stood up, breaking out of Viktor’s grip easily. Despite already being weakened, Viktor was busy trying to digest what was just said.

“Before you born…” That couldn’t have been right at all. This man was easily in his mid-twenties! Viktor was supposed to be asleep for six months. He stared up at the man, noticing just minor differences between him now and his recent memories. His nose flared a bit more at the end, giving him a type of precious appearance. His mouth curled differently too, although Viktor couldn’t remember very much about the nurses’ frown. But this was definitely the man he knew before the procedure. He must be lying. 

Something like sympathy made a very brief appearance in that man’s features, but was gone before Viktor could really pay attention to it.

“Not everything went as planned with your procedure. Your wake up date got extended a bit,” The man straightened his shirt, looking to the floor as he smoothed it down, “You’ve been asleep for about thirty years.” 

~

“Twenty-nine years, five months, three days, and fourteen hours, according to your monitor. You had a gradual waking up process over a few minutes, so that is as accurate as we can tell it.” Toshiya Katsuki smiled from the chair next to Viktor’s bed, appearing not to find the sudden time jump very out of the ordinary. This was the actual nurse who had had put Viktor under all those years ago. He looked an awful lot like his son, despite the constant smile. “I’m sure you have a million questions.”

“Is my mother still alive?” Viktor asked. He had taken off his locket and was gripping it in his hands. Toshiya’s smile faltered, which told Viktor all he needed to know. 

“We do not know.”

Viktor looked at his hands. They were gaunt and thin, not how they were when he fell asleep. These weren’t the hands of a 57-year-old. He imagined his mother, who was getting older when he had last seen her. She would be somewhere around 80 or 90 now, wouldn’t she? Still young enough to be alive. Viktor felt a pit in his chest that told him otherwise, though. Nikiforov women were too rowdy to live anywhere close to a hundred. Had he even given her a proper goodbye?

“-Russia, many forms were lost in translation or lost altogether, but I can have Yuuri look for yours.” Toshiya was saying something, but Viktor wasn’t really paying attention, just nodding along to whatever was being discussed. 

“Why am I in Japan?” Viktor asked next, once the silence in the room got to be too much. 

“The answer is somewhere between the advances of technology and the politics you have missed out on. The facility that you knew has been out of operation for many years. Your government deemed your particular batch of experimentation too risky, so you were handed over to us. I was a junior medical professional at the time, you were under for about ten years. They brought you here, and I moved my family out here too to continue the experiment. Cryogenics of this extent have never been performed before, it would be foolish to waste the opportunity.”

Viktor could hear everything that was supposed to go between the lines. It would have been foolish to kill them all and get rid of their lab rats. What concerned him more was that he was no longer a volunteer, but an experiment. Maybe he should have chosen the pistol after all. 

Toshiya asked him a few more questions and then left, telling Viktor to get some rest. Viktor tried to sleep, laying on his back with his eyes open, trying to make sense of what he was feeling. Overall, he was underwhelmed. Whenever he had thought of the year 2054, he had imagined floating robots and magical wands that could instantly make the pain in his organs go away. Instead it was painfully similar to his own time.

Slowly, Viktor sat up. His stomach held. He gently eased his legs off the bed and onto the ground, putting weight onto them. His knees threatened to buckle again, but what muscle mass he had left saved him the embarrassment. Going slow as to not awaken his nausea, Viktor hobbled to the window and pushed aside the shade. 

It was raining. Small buds lined the tree branches right outside his window, bobbing up and down slightly from the assault of water. The horizon was foggy, but he could see houses and trees and bushes stretching over the hills. It looked like the Japan he remembered from all those years ago. Maybe he was being tricked? Maybe they were seeing how people could adjust to being hypothetically thrown into a new age in time.

Viktor’s walking became more confident as he slowly moved to the door and out into the hallway. What made him more excited was that his nausea seemed to be gone, especially when the scent of something fried and warm made its way to him. 

Stairs were significantly harder, but by putting a majority of his weight on the wall he managed to get downstairs. Following that delicious smell, Viktor found himself in a dining room with a low table. Two bowls sat in front of him, one on a tray and one on the table itself.

“You’re not supposed to be out of bed.” A voice startled Viktor from behind. He turned to find the man from before, arms crossed, standing in the doorway. It seemed the time apart had not warmed him up to Viktor’s presence at all. “We estimate that you won’t get your full muscle capacity back for another few days, based on the people who have successfully woken up before, so walking around is dangerous. I was about to bring you your lunch.” 

“Other people have woken up?” Viktor asked hopefully, swaying a bit. The smell was making him delirious with hunger. The man sighed, walking over and helping Viktor sit down on one of the mats. Viktor didn’t have to be non-verbally told twice, grabbing a bowl and shoveling food into his mouth.

“Not so quickly! You’ll make yourself sick!” The man sat across from him, picking up the other bowl and eating, “And to answer your question, yes. Cryogenics have proven to be successful in preserving people until later dates, although we have never had anyone stay asleep as long as you and wake up again.” 

That made Viktor stop eating for a moment. Everyone else that had been in that room with him was still asleep. Or dead. He suddenly thought of that boy with straw hair, and felt sadness creep around his heart. 

His stomach rumbled loudly, his appetite apparently not going away with the thoughts of the young boy. He continued eating, a bit slower, and watched as the other man fidgeted. They sat in silence for a while, tense with unspoken confessions. Viktor had no idea who this man was or what was in store for him here. In turn, this man didn’t know anything about him. Viktor could have been some sort of dangerous criminal, or this man could be planning on locking him up to study, but nothing was being said. They just sat quietly, scarcely enjoying the delicious food.

“My name’s Viktor. We never properly met.” 

The other man jumped a bit at the sudden conversation and just looked at him for a moment, unsure. Viktor supposed that he hadn’t made a good first impression on this man.

“I know. I’m Yuuri. It’s nice to meet you, Viktor.” 

Viktor smiled then went back to devouring his food. Out of politeness, he pretended not to notice Yuuri’s smile as he shouted praise on the cooking in Russian. 

~  
Nausea was worse when there was actual food to throw up. In darkness it was a tangible force inside Viktor’s stomach, wrapping him up in a dark blanket of pain that made sweat bead in the small of his back. Viktor gasped in ragged breaths, hoping that the fresh air would help cool him down, but the cold did nothing to make his stomach settle. If anything, it felt worse.

Viktor desperately didn’t want to empty his stomach again, not when he had finally filled it for the first time in 30 years. 

Shivering, Viktor pulled the blanket Yuuri had given him closer around his shoulders and sat up. The only break in the darkness was a soft glow from the window. It was too dim to light the room around him, but from across the room Viktor thought he could see pulsing lights on the other side of the glass. Tiny flecks of green and red lights tricked his eyes into thinking something living sat just outside his window, silently moving and plotting.

Eerily familiar fear clenched around Viktor’s windpipe, casting the nausea aside. He was petrified, watching the moving shapes of light just outside his room. He definitely wasn’t imagining it. Something was right outside, just shy of dragging thin tendrils of fingers over the glass.

It surprised him that now, after years of contemplating death, he was terrified at the thought of dying. Maybe it wasn’t the dying that scared him, but what would be killing him. Dying as a human popsicle was easy and made sense, but dying by the creepy hands of some sickly gray creature made his stomach turn.

Seconds passed, and the invisible creature didn’t make a move to open the window. Maybe it didn’t see Viktor yet. If he was fast, he might be able to escape. His legs still hadn’t regained the strength they once had, but he would be able to survive a short dash. 

Overcoming his petrification was the hardest thing Viktor had done since he had woken up. He started with his fingers, wrapping them into the thin blanket at his hip. Slowly, he pushed the blanket down, uncovering his boxers and legs. He couldn’t push it past his knees without moving too dramatically, so he figured he would have to take the risk of tripping.

Quickly, before he could lose his nerve, Viktor rocketed himself off the bed towards the door. He stumbled a bit when the weight of his body shocked down onto his legs, but he didn’t fall, and dove out into the hallway.

The house was dark. This had surprised Viktor at first, who had expected lights to stain every corner a brilliant white once the sun descended like it had at any other professional building Viktor had been in. Yuuri had responded to this with obvious amusement at Viktor’s confusion, explaining that he wasn’t being kept in a hospital at all, but a house. 

“Our house is connected to the cryostations you were being kept in before, sort of like a closet. I had to move you in here because there aren’t any beds where you woke up.” Yuuri’s face was painted with a soft frown, which Viktor was beginning to think was his resting face. He hadn’t elaborated further, but Viktor had been left with a nagging sensation that he was imposing somehow.

Right now, though, imposing was the least of Viktor’s worries. Every window he passed seemed to be lit with the same eerie glow, almost like it was following him down the hallway. Viktor was panting, dodging past every window as quickly as he could as he tried to get away. It was unnatural how this alien followed him, never failing to arrive at a window before Viktor passed it. He thought suddenly that there might be many aliens, one at each window, and a fresh wave of fear spurred him forward. 

Viktor didn’t even know where he was going until he was face-down on the floor, crawling forward with determination. It took him a moment, but he quickly pieced together that he had arrived in Yuuri’s room by the man sleeping in front of him. From the floor, Viktor was safer from the ominous figures outside, and didn’t dare lift himself up too far as he crawled to Yuuri’s side and shook his shoulder.

“Yuuri.” Viktor whispered urgently. The sleeping man groaned softly and rolled to his side, facing Viktor. His eyebrows knit together in a picture of frustration, but he didn’t seem to wake up. Viktor shook him again, not willing to back down now. 

“”S no time yet,” Yuuri mumbled, not opening his eyes. Despite himself, Viktor found it cute, but that feeling was cast away as Yuuri swatted his hand away angrily. 

“Yuuri, please, you have to wake up.” 

Groaning again, Yuuri opened his eyes, glaring at Viktor. Then he jumped, realizing how close Viktor was to him, and gave a sharp yelp. Viktor instinctually pounced, pressing Yuuri down to the bed with one hand and covering his mouth with the other.

“Shhh, they’ll hear you!” Viktor sunk low to the bed, half on top of Yuuri, and waited until Yuuri’s breathing started to normalize before taking his hand away from his mouth. Yuuri looked as terrified as Viktor felt, though if it was from the aliens or the rude awakening Viktor wasn’t sure. 

“Who will hear me? Is there someone in the house?”

“No, the aliens.” Viktor whispered, pointing to the window next to Yuuri’s bed. He could almost see the outline of it, wispy and Lovecraftian in the hazy, flickering lights. 

Yuuri followed where Viktor was pointing, then suddenly relaxed. He sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his eyes. 

“Viktor, there aren’t aliens outside the house.” Yuuri kneaded his forehead, pushing Viktor back so he could sit up. 

“Yes there are! They’re right there, can’t you see them?” Viktor shrunk further down, certain that Yuuri sitting up like that was going to attract attention. He watched with horror as Yuuri leaned closer to the window and pulled the curtain back dramatically. Viktor gasped and ducked back behind the bed frame, but there was no shattering of glass or screaming or laser beams. In fact, the only thing he heard was Yuuri snorting.

“There’s no aliens, it’s just the nightway.” 

Viktor stook his head up just enough to look through the window. To his relief, there were no otherworldly figures standing at the glass, nor anywhere in sight. All there was was a large cherry blossom tree. 

Viktor could feel the blush spread across his face. He prayed that it was dark enough to disguise it, but with the window open there was more light than before, and Yuuri’s face let him know that his flush wasn’t subtle. Like a child, he had been spooked by shadows on the curtains, flickering and changing by the path of lights trailing up above. 

Yuuri’s laugh broke through the room, driving Viktor deeper into his shame hole. Suddenly, he felt anger rise up in the place of his embarrassment. He was in a different time than he was accustomed to, he couldn’t be blamed if he didn’t know everything yet! He struggled to his feet, pouting, and his obvious change in demeanor made Yuuri try to stifle his laughter.

“Well. I’ll let you go back to sleep now. Good night.” Viktor turned, walking as fast as he could towards the door. He would never be able to live this down.

“Would you like to see it?” Yuuri’s voice made Viktor stop in his tracks. He turned back from the doorway, confused. Yuuri was sitting at the edge of his bed, eyes suddenly aglow like Viktor had never seen before. He was overcome with the vision of Yuuri growing up learning everything he could about Viktor’s world to help him when he woke up, meticulously finding every bit of information he could so he could work alongside his father on ancient technology. Maybe this young Yuuri had even liked parts of Viktor’s world. But now they were in Yuuri’s time, his version of reality. And it was his turn to teach Viktor all about it. The excitement was almost palpable. 

Yuuri and Viktor tried to be quiet as they slipped through the house, suppressing giggles as their bare feet padded down the stairs. It had stopped raining, but the walkways outside were wet and warm. Viktor didn’t even care that the dampness was crawling up his legs or the chilly air was nibbling at his ears. The air was sweet and tasted like liberation.

Yuuri was leading Viktor farther away from the house, grinning into the night sky. His feet were almost dancing as he went, each movement graceful and deliberate. Viktor looked up, and suddenly realized the reason for excitement.

Hundreds of thousands of drones were streaking across the sky, four discrete lines of green and red weaving a new Milky Way into the stars. The light traveled down onto the ground below, sending sparkling shards of crystals into every captured raindrop. It made the entire scene glow, and for a moment Viktor truly believed that he had stepped into a galaxy. 

“What are they?” Viktor asked, captivated by the panoramic view. Yuuri had walked back over to his side, still more lively than he had been this morning. 

“Drones, mainly. There might be a few jetcrafts or sprites, those are sort of similar to your airplanes. They’re all synced together. It’s more effective to deliver mail or things of the like at night, especially in tourist locations where clear skies during the day are nicer, so the nightway was invented. Eventually, people started traveling it too. In larger cities, whole apartments were designed for being picked up and moved, and the nightway became a highway of sorts for everyone.”

“It’s beautiful.” 

They stood in silence for a long while, captivated by the nightway. It was unlike anything Viktor had ever seen. It had the cold stillness of something that didn’t have life, but a thrumming heartbeat to it nonetheless. Thousands of ships, all talking to each other silently, linked together like a snake across the night and disappeared in either direction. Viktor didn’t notice his gaze falling down until it rested on Yuuri’s face, still fixed upwards. The nightway was reflected in his glasses, encompassing him into the universe of stars they were surrounded by. In fact, he saw a lot of things reflected from the nightway in Yuuri’s features. He appeared simple from a first glance, but the longer he stared, the more Yuuri was absolutely bubbling over with life. It was like he was a plant with a pot much too small. Viktor idly wondered when he was going to stop being just synced with the world around him and break through. 

Plus, Yuuri was beautiful. He had a certain elegance about him that Viktor had missed before. Sure, Yuuri didn’t have the typical shape of a dancer, but Viktor could easily imagine him spinning pirouettes. Or in a pair of skates. 

Viktor felt himself blushing for the second time that night. The meaning behind the thoughts of cuteness and his concern for Yuuri to like him suddenly became shockingly clear. How he had missed it in the first place was a mystery. He had only known him a day! Viktor had never before formed a crush so quickly.

He was distracted momentarily as Yuuri smiled and pointed up at a larger ship passing overhead. His voice was calming like wind chimes, but Viktor couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying. The scent of cleaning solution and flowers came to him from not two feet away, making his chest heave in a way it hadn’t done in years.

He was well and truly fucked.


	3. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say that ignorance is bliss, but Viktor has been in pain too long to crave anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter! The story is really beginning to roll now, I hope all yall enjoy the new content! A huge shoutout to my friend Alyssa, who has become my beta reader and inspires most the things that go into this au even though she hella busy with school. She's awesome like that. Without further ado, I present to you: chapter 3!

Viktor woke up the next morning covered in sweat. The fear-touched tendrils of his dreams still wrapped around his neck and chest, gently unwinding as reality set in around him. He could still feel the cold steel and wind. The smell of fire and the bite of blood in his mouth still flooded his senses, but as his breathing calmed even those faded. In the quiet, he could still hear the desperate cries and the silence that met them. Death was quiet, but dying rarely was.

Viktor tried to sit up and failed, crumpling back to the bed before he had gotten all the way up. Despite his best efforts against the pain, his body just didn’t seem to want to move. His breathing quickened again, panic overcoming him as he tried and failed to move his body. Was he being restrained? He couldn’t feel any straps tying him down, so why could he barely move?

His father burst across his memory, and suddenly Viktor was six years old again, watching old American classics in their basement. His father had always been one for action movies, though his mother had hated them. He could remember them sitting together, watching as a young Uma Thurman sat in the back of a truck teaching herself to walk again because she had been asleep for four years.

How could he remember the actress’s name but not the movie itself? How disappointed his father would be in him now. 

Luckily, his muscles were not in so bad of shape that he couldn’t move altogether. Viktor started with his fingers, wiggling all the tiredness out of them and feeling the hot blood fill them. He then moved the motion up his arms to his elbow, then to his shoulder, taking long minutes to flex life back into himself. Finally, when he could move his arms without them screaming in pain, he set about the rest of his body. He rubbed at his ribs, flexed his ankles, and even got bold enough to crack his toes. 

Sitting up the second time was not nearly as difficult. Dull pain still bloomed across his chest like a bruise, but at least he wasn’t constricted to the sweat-soaked sheets any longer. 

The sun was already shining, filling the room with more life than Viktor was ready to handle. The mornings in his tiny apartment had been like this, though not nearly as warm. Suddenly, Viktor was filled with a sickening repulsion. He had signed up to be frozen because he hadn’t wanted to live any longer. The thought that he might actually wake up again had never crossed his mind. What was he supposed to do now? He had no more place in this world than he had in the one he left.

“What are you doing standing? I brought you some food.” Yuuri pushed open VIktor’s door, something almost friendly in his face. Viktor couldn’t bring himself to look at him for more than a few seconds. What would Yuuri say if he knew Viktor didn’t want to be alive any more now than he had back in Russia? 

Upon reflection, Viktor realized that Yuuri probably wouldn’t care. Sure, they had had something of a bonding experience last night, but any feelings further were purly on Viktor’s side. Thinking that Yuuri would grieve him was ridiculous. It wasn’t something Viktor would have wanted anyway, but the realization caused a fresh wave of pain in his lungs that made breathing hard. 

“I didn’t think you were going to bring me food.” Viktor sat back on the edge of his bed, letting Yuuri come and set a large bowl of something brown and sweet-smelling in his hands. 

“Of course I was going to. I’m honestly surprised that you can even stand, especially with that stunt you pulled last night. Exertion is the worst thing you can do for your body. The fluid you were in before was laced with a special concentration of drugs that kept your body from deteriorating completely while asleep, so you’re probably experiencing some withdrawal symptoms. You technically weren’t on it at all for the first three years, which might explain some of your tolerance to walking now, but don’t push it.” Yuuri pulled up a chair, apparently not keen on leaving until Viktor ate.

The brown stuff didn’t look too appetizing, but a test bite proved to be very delicious, so Viktor ate it with gusto. Some of the screaming from inside him quieted a bit, but the squirming inside his chest was determined to stay. Yuuri was staring at him, sending spirals of heat down Viktor’s spine. Honestly, who decided that giving someone a face that cute and eyes that beautiful was a good idea? It just wasn’t fair. He forced his mind from the topic, thickly swallowing a mouthful of food down.

“Yuuri, how long have you worked here?” 

Yuuri raised his eyebrows questioningly, but still considered the question.

“I sort of always have worked here. My father moved us to this house when I was about seven, and I have been helping him the whole time. I wouldn’t call it a job, though. I didn’t get paid. I do my own research on the side, so helping out here is more of a family business thing.”

“Do you like it?” 

“Most of the time,” Yuuri laughed, “It’s not like it was too difficult before you woke up. Monitor the drug levels, check for signs of life, visually make sure no one has broken out and started a zombie epidemic, stuff like that. My dad does most of the work, I’m just backup.”

Viktor had a sense that there was something more than that that Yuuri was keeping hidden, but he brushed the thought away. Yuuri had no reason to lie to him. 

“So you were working here since you were a kid? That’s sort of gruesome.” Viktor couldn’t imagine being a kid and hanging out around a ton of bodies all day, but Yuuri just shrugged.

“It’s not like you were all dead. Playing around a bunch of sleeping men and women was the best thing I could wish for. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t draw faces on you sometimes when I played. Besides, that was the only way I could practically ever see my father. Cryogenics is dangerous, I wanted to help him as much as possible.”

“Has anyone died while frozen?” The question surprised Viktor as much as it did Yuuri, but it had already been asked. Yuuri bit his bottom lip, his gaze wavering. 

“Yes.” 

Viktor waited for the rest, but the singular word hung in the air for too many seconds. The implications behind it made Viktor uneasy, but he was in too deep already.

“What happened to them?” Viktor gripped his bowl tightly, the leftover brown goop forgotten. 

“You’re just full of questions today, aren’t you? We can talk about it more later. There’s actually a protocol I’m supposed to follow that will-”

“Yuuri,” Viktor scooted closer, forcing Yuuri’s eyes to meet his own. He refused to be kept in the dark any longer. “Tell me.”

Yuuri kept Viktor’s gaze for a whole 4 seconds before he broke. Sighing, Yuuri looked down at his hands. 

“No one has died under our care yet. However, the early stages of cryogenic storage were incredibly dangerous. People didn’t know then what we know now, and some died because of it. Many were woken up improperly and their hearts couldn’t take the strain. Some weren’t given enough anesthetic to counteract the preparation fumes and drown before they could be put on life support. A few just died while under, and no one knew until reviving processes were unsuccessful.” Yuuri stopped, apparently not wanting to go any farther, but his face said that there was something he wasn’t revealing. Viktor wondered what could be holding him back now. 

“Was that it?” 

Yuuri flinched, glaring at Viktor. A bit of the fire from last night was back, but not how Viktor wanted. 

“What do you mean ‘was that it’? People died. They died because of our mistakes. The entire world thought that your experiment was going to end the same way. That’s not something to brush away.”

“Every person in that room with me wanted to die. We all knew the risks of what we were doing. The only tragedy here is that some of us woke up again. Every death you mentioned was something that pushed your world to the point of successfully waking up those that didn’t want to die. Those aren’t mistakes, they’re lessons. Why is that so bad?” Viktor didn’t even notice the venom in his voice until Yuuri’s rose to meet it.

“How do you know they wanted that? Did you ask them all? Not everyone who died wanted to, I know that.” Yuuri’s hands were clenched. Viktor was reminded of the angry boy from the facility, and was solidified in his position.

“No you don’t. You didn’t sign up unless you wanted to die. I was there, Yuuri. I lived it.”

“Not everyone who was frozen signed up in the first place, did you know that? Sometimes the government forced people into those bags.” 

That made Viktor hesitate. He didn’t know that. Sure, not everything revolving around cryogenics had been completely ethical, but he thought the experiment had been more underground than that. Yuuri wasn’t meeting Viktor’s eyes, but something dark and writhing was behind them. 

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s not something you need to worry about right now. Get some rest, Viktor, we’ll start your rehabilitation later today.” Yuuri grabbed the bowl from Viktor’s hands, still not looking at him, and fled the room. 

~

“Do they still have apples?” 

“Yes.”

“What about gingerbread?”

“Yes.”

“And skating rinks? Do people still skate?”

Yuuri sighed, sitting up into a kneeling position. Apparently, Yuuri had given the duty of overseeing Viktor’s rehabilitation, although Viktor doubted that there was anyone else here that could do it. Or anyone else in general. Viktor had yet to see another living person besides Yuuri’s father. 

Viktor arched his back as he rose out of his prone position. Yuuri was currently coaching him through some gentle stretches to help his muscles repair themselves. Viktor wondered if he should tell Yuuri that he used to be a champion figure skater and knew how to stretch without being monitored.

“You were asleep for thirty years, not transported to another universe. Yes, people still skate. And they walk and kiss and laugh and cry and everything else because we’re still people. Why don’t you ask about something exciting, like cell phones?” 

Yuuri moved into the next position, ignoring Viktor’s curious eyes. The moment of silence stretched on until he couldn’t take it any longer. 

“Do you still have cell phones?”

“Yes.”

Viktor groaned, falling back on the matt and throwing his arms over his face. Why had he even signed up for the stupid cryogenic experiment if the future didn’t have laser skates and jetpacks? Had he been the only child who grew up on science fiction movies? 

“Is there anything new in the world? Besides making living popsicles real, the world could not have just stood still.”

Yuuri looked up with an annoyed expression. They still hadn’t addressed what had happened this morning, but there wasn’t any hostility between them so Viktor counted it as a win. 

“Look, I don’t know what you want to hear from me. Of course the world has changed, but it’s a bit difficult to give you a rundown of the past 30 years when I haven’t even been alive for all of it. If you want to know what’s changed, go Google it or something.” Yuuri bent back over, grumbling under his breath. 

“Wait, there’s still Google? The internet is still a thing?” 

“Of course it is,” Yuuri said, and Viktor suddenly felt much older than he was, “Just like how cars were still driven in your time over a hundred years after their invention. Google has probably changed a bit, but the concept is still the same. Put in a word and information comes out. I think you can handle it.” 

Yuuri sat back again, rolling the tension out of his shoulders. Standing, he walked over to his desk and produced what looked like an old ipod. It fit perfectly in the palm of Yuuri’s hand, but other than that it really had no distinguishable features. 

“This is a holocube. They’re what phased out laptops. The basic operations should still be the same.” Yuuri handed the rectangle to Viktor just as the door flung open and a younger man with brown skin and disheveled hair burst in. 

“Yuuri, we need you, Otabek knocked over one of the nitrogen tanks again.”

Yuuri groaned, grabbing his jacket off the back of his desk chair. 

“I’ll come help you get it back up. Viktor, we’ll call it good for the day, see if you can figure out the holocube.” Yuuri gave Viktor a quick smile and left with the other man. Viktor waved after him, trying not to let the twinge of jealousy in his chest grow into something. So there were other people who worked here. 

Sighing, Viktor found his way back to his room. It was selfish to get attached to Yuuri so quickly like this, but he just didn’t want to be away from him. Sure, what they had was just on this side of companionable, but they had only know each other a day. With more time, Viktor could see them becoming good friends. Or more. The thought made him blush.

“Ok, what do you have in store for me?” Viktor murmured to the block in his hands as he sat on his bed. Even upon closer inspection, it still looked like an ipod. The only difference was there weren’t any discernible buttons on any of the surfaces nor any ports of any kind. How was this thing even charged? Viktor imagined that it was charged by some sort of contact pad, but a look around his room revealed a disturbing lack of power outlets. 

Distracted by his room, Viktor absently rubbed his thumb along the side of the metallic brick and jumped out of his skin when it vibrated. The dual gray faded as the device activated. The darker side stayed the same color, but when Viktor turned it over he could see straight through it to his legs. The time slid smoothly onto the screen in white font. He swiped at the bottom of the screen but got no response. Tapping the screen and sides led to similar results. His brow furrowed in frustration.

After several minutes of trying different things, Viktor eventually managed to unlock it by holding his thumb and forefinger on opposite sides of the screen. Finally, the image switch to what he assumed was the homepage. Maybe. He had always thought that he was good with technology, but this was worlds above him. 

“I just want to Google something.” Viktor growled through gritted teeth, tapping at random places on the screen in frustration and not getting a response. If this was what it would be like every time he had to look something up, he’d just be stupid for the rest of his life. 

“Voice controls activated.” An electronic voice rang sweetly from the small box. 

“Oh.” Viktor had to take a moment to compose himself, feeling very foolish. It wasn’t like voice control was a new concept, he should have guessed that first.

“Google the year 2026.”

The phone dinged in recognition, and he was taken to a site that very much did not look like Google. It looked more like the mass of swirls and color than a search engine. A bubble appeared on the screen, growing brighter by the second. It started to blur out the spirals, encompassing the whole screen, then burst out in a swarm of laser points. Viktor yelled, jumping back in surprise. 

The holocube landed face-up on the floor, but what hung above it had Victor mesmerized. It was an honest to God hologram. Rotating slowly, a tower of a hundred different blocks sat in Viktors’ room. 

Viktor slid onto the floor, captivated by the tower. He had never seen a hologram that could just be produced out of a screen like this. There weren’t even any protrusions on the phone itself to create a 3D image. It was nothing short of magical. 

He reached to touch it, and though he didn’t feel anything the image shifted as one of the block was selected. The tower shrank down to a hundredth of its size, replaced with an article about animal cloning in England. The video attached was also 3D, with tiny mice poking their heads out of their boxes and running up and down the paragraphs. 

“Wow.” Viktor breathed, scrolling through. He touched the tower again and selected a different article. This one was about a movie release in America. Apparently it had a big budget and bigger expectations, but Viktor couldn’t convince himself to be interested, so he moved on to the next one. 

One after another, articles from his world filtered their way in front of him. Science and art and politics clouded his mind with an excess of information. One by one, he selected every block on the tower, slowly working his way back through history. It was comforting to see things that actually made sense.

2027 proved to be similar stories, although some advancement could already be seen. Viktor was impressed at how quickly a species could develop, although the increasingly horrific news stories seemed to balance that out. The civil wars in the United States were already reaching their peaks when Viktor had gone under, but by 2027 it seemed that they had managed to pull other countries into it as well. Riots started spreading, and nations worldwide started to take sides. There was a lot of talk about a third world war, but as far as Viktor could tell that was the extent of it. With relations frosty, nations began to remove themselves from the fight. According to the holocube, by the next year the fighting was over as support started to disappear. Almost a quarter of the population had died.

Once the American drama had died down, news stories from other countries flooded the holocube. Death and hate were common themes, but growing movements of support made Viktor smile. It was nice to see that there were people standing up for what was right. 

It wasn’t long before Viktor started to see articles about cryogenics. People started waking up from their initial trials as better methods of revival were being discovered. Most of the journals and periodicals Viktor found used words that were way above his comprehension, but the basics were clear enough. It had worked. The excitement spread into other fields as cures for diseases and more efficient power sources were being developed. 

Things started to go haywire after that. Sure, science as a whole was making leaps and bounds, but the people in charge seemed to be lagging behind. In 2033, suspicions began to arise. With all these new technologies, what was stopping governments from using them against each other? Even years later, tensions were still high across the globe because of the Americans. Cryogenics and fuel developments were perfect mechanisms for preserving soldiers and payloads for war.

At the time, Russia was the leading power in cryogenic developments. The Russian government was not willing to reveal their research tactics that led to such quick developments, which caused people to get fearful. When they continued to deny access to research documents, other governments became convinced that the information was closely related to military operations. Across the globe, nations began bulking their resources. Spies were deployed across Russia, determined to discover what secrets may have been kept from the rest of the world.

To slow research down in the face of war, an unknown mercenary attacked a storage unit containing more than two dozen cryogenic test subjects, leaving none living. The attacker was never caught, but the assault led to global reform of experimental procedures, and any cryogenics too easily compromised were distributed to other countries. 

Viktor paused halfway down the article. Something hard and sick had settled into the pit of his stomach. A cryogenics lab had been attacked in Russia, probably close to the facility he himself had been stored in, but that was all the article had mentioned. He touched the link that was attached below the mention of the attack, and a completely different web page filled the hologram. Stacks of photos appeared before him, along with a synopsis of the tragic events. Viktor hadn’t even started reading when a glance at the photographs made him stop.

Bile rose in his throat. The air in the room was suddenly very cold, like ice slicing into his lungs, and the world started to blur outside the range of the holographic image. Hands shaking, Viktor touched on a stack of photos and watched blindly as they swirled up and spread out before him. Strangled, Viktor tried to choke back the tears suddenly spilling over from his eyes.

Children. They were children. They were scattered on tables and in puddles on the floor, half-naked in plastic bags and staring with open mouths at the ceiling. Viktor scrolled down, gagging as the true extent of the horrific event was revealed in crime-scene clarity. 

His hand hovered over a picture near the bottom of the list. A girl laid on her back, spread over the floor like she had fallen out of bed in her sleep. To her side there was a boy with dark hair and scratched olive skin, one hand resting limply on her arm. It wasn’t a possibility that the boy had woken up, but it looked eerily like he was reaching out to save her. From the girl’s face stared familiar, unseeing eyes. 

Viktor tried to physically push the picture away, causing the hologram to collapse on itself and disappear. His breathing was too fast. He pushed himself backwards until he hit the side of his bed, numbness quickly taking hold in his fingers and legs. His stomach lurched horribly. They were just children. The same children that had been forced into cryogenics by their parents, the same children who were undesirable cracks in the systems, who were not given the chance at life they deserved. 

Now there was no option for them to wake up. There never would be. Defenseless, sleeping children had been murdered because of politics.

“Not everyone who was frozen signed up in the first place, did you know that?” Yuuri’s voice echoed through Viktor’s skull, forcing a fresh wave of nausea crashing into him. Accidentally drowning someone who had agreed to die was one thing, Viktor thought viciously. Cutting up children who still wanted to live was another. 

Deep-rooted guilt bloomed in his stomach. Viktor had no doubt that he had been kept in the same place as those children, so why wasn’t he the one dead on the floor? That would have been an ending that Viktor would have been content with, happy even. His life already was as good as gone. Why did dozens of children have to die instead? 

Viktor wasn’t sure how long he sat on the floor, clutching his head and trying not to throw up. It felt like hours, but when he lifted his head again the sun was still shining through his window. Legs still shaking, Viktor stood up, focusing on not letting the spinning room making his stomach empty. He had to get out of this room before something worse started brewing in his mind. 

The house wasn’t quiet, much to Viktor’s dismay. Several voices that were not Yuuri’s drifted around corners and up staircases. They helped direct him to more secluded parts of the house, but every time he tried to move away from one voice he moved towards another. Before he knew it, he was stumbling as fast as he dared through the halls, desperate for an open place with no prying ears.

Three corners and a staircase later, Viktor found himself standing on a roof. It wasn’t ideal, but the air was cool and clean, and Viktor could finally let himself breathe. He walked slowly to the edge of the building, looking over the green landscape surrounding the house. From up here he could see buildings in the distance. Not a single person was in sight.

Screaming into the vast space seemed natural. Viktor almost felt better after doing it. 

Suddenly, Viktor noticed that he was a decent way off the ground. Yuuri’s house had high ceilings, so the distance to the walkways from up here was considerable. Lethal, even, if Viktor did it right. 

Swallowing, Viktor stepped away from the ledge. He took a deep breath of air, then turned to walk back inside. He couldn’t do that to Yuuri. No matter what he felt now, for once he had things to complete before he could contemplate death again.

It was a comfort to know the possibility was there, however.


	4. Adaptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Viktor hit the town in preparation for a family dinner, but hushed secrets begin to rear their heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! I finished up the semester and started a new job, so I haven't had much time in between shifts. This chapter is a bit longer than the others, I hope that makes up for it!

“It’s Friday, you know.”

Viktor wasn’t completely sure why this detail was important.

“Is it? That’s good, the weekend is right around the corner.” Viktor smiled at his friend, hoping to go for the innocent appeal. He had been spending more time with Yuuri the past few days, and although all they had done were physical therapy, Viktor could tell that something fond was growing between them. Maybe.

But there was no real need to ask why Friday mattered anyway, Viktor was sure Yuuri would tell him. 

“Oh, so you already know? Great! Be ready by 6.” With that, Yuuri turned back to his desk and continued working. His holographic screen was hard to decipher, as he was typing in Japanese, but Viktor recognized diagrams of molecules flitting across the simulated menus. 

Viktor gulped. What did he know? Did something special happen in the future on weekends? He was struck with the mental image of weekend attacks from the robots in the nightway. The drones and planes would descend for two nights of raining fire below. They would all have to suit up in armor and take weapons from around the house to fight the tormented androids back. 

He wasn’t prepared for that! Viktor couldn’t even handle aliens outside his window and now he had to fight off a robot army? That was insane! Maybe Yuuri could do it because he was raised like this, but Viktor was going to die. He was going to die watching Yuuri flex so hard his shirt rips off as he sucker punches drones from the sky. It would be an honorable and so worth-it death, but he wouldn’t get to properly indulge in Yuuri shirtless, so what was the point?

It was right about then that Viktor noticed Yuuri giving him glances from the side. A smug grin was tugging on the man’s lips involuntarily, and it was only a few seconds longer before Yuuri began laughing. 

Viktor felt his chest and neck flush, slowly spreading up to his cheeks. Had he said any of that out loud? After the alien incident, Viktor would never come back from it. 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep it up,” Yuuri managed to get out between giggles, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, “I just wanted to see how you would react. You got so serious I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Yuuri kept laughing, at least visibly putting an effort to try and stop, but it did nothing for Viktor’s embarrassment. Viktor ducked his head so his hair covered most of his face, its length hiding his flush.

“It’s not that funny.” He muttered, but it was hard to stay mad with Yuuri being so happy. He had never seen him laugh like this before. A few moments later Yuuri seemed to have more control of himself, taking a few deep breaths to stop his giggling. 

“Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t have left you hanging. Friday nights the whole lab does a big family dinner together. We’re all so busy all the time, it’s a nice reprieve. The lab’s a little empty now because of the season, but there’ll still be some unknown faces for you to meet if you’d like to go.”

Viktor couldn’t hide the relief that swept through his body. There wasn’t a robot uprising on their hands. Yet. Still, he hesitated to accept the offer.

“Do you think I’m ready to meet everyone? I’m not exactly up on the times.” Viktor had focused so much on early history that he couldn’t think of much happening in the current time. After he had learned about the lab accidents from the 2030’s he had shut off the holocube and put it away, wanting to keep himself away from those horrible thoughts for just a little longer. He wasn’t totally sure he could even hold a decent conversation about anything in the past decade.

Yuuri didn’t seem to think this was a problem. He just waved his hand, obviously pleased that Viktor’s reservation was so easily resolved. 

“I think you’ll be just fine. They’re probably going to want to know more about you anyways, not what’s going on now. Phichit’s a chatterbox, but other than that you should be alright.” 

Viktor felt himself smile. It was amazing how easily he could smile now, even just for being here for such a short time. This wooden house felt more like home than anywhere he had been in Russia. And now they were even doing group dinners. He couldn’t help but feel like he was about to meet Yuuri’s family, and suddenly was very nervous to make a good first impression.

Yuuri finished typing at his screen and collapsed the beams of light back into the holocube. He stretched his arms above his head, yawning widely and leaning backwards. Viktor’s eyes trailed down to where Yuuri’s shirt pulled up and pulled the skin taut across his hips and stomach, an image that had Viktor blushing horribly. The arch of his back, the movement of breath into Yuuri’s lungs, the small line of freckles right along his pants-line seemed determined to kill Viktor where he sat. 

“I have to go to the store before we can start cooking, though. I suppose this would be a good time to start to get you acclimated to the outside world. We’re going through wake-up procedures a bit out of order, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Yuuri got up, walking to the door. 

“Wait, you want me to go with you?” Viktor found himself standing and following Yuuri out of the room. The man suddenly looked a bit sheepish, like he was hoping to skip past the formal invitation.

“If you’d like to, I think it would be beneficial to you. It’s good to get you immersed in the current culture. We could pick you up some new clothes that fit you better. Plus I’d like the company.” Yuuri wouldn’t meet Viktor’s eyes. Viktor smiled, trying not to let the pounding in his ears and the bubble in his chest sway him one way or the other.

It would be really nice to have his own clothes again, though. He had been wearing a mixture of Toshiya’s old work clothes and Yuuri’s current ones, which was fine except for that everything was either too big or too small. He’d like a pair of pants that didn’t have to be tied to stay on.

This definitely had nothing to do with getting to run domestic errands with Yuuri.

“I’d be honored.”

Twenty minutes later, the duo were sitting aboard the oldest-looking train that Viktor had ever been on. It reminded him of the old bullet trains that were built when he was a kid, meaning that it was much too old to be in use. Or be going this fast. 

He was plastered to his seat, trying to sink into the padded seats as much as possible to increase his chance of survival for their inevitable crash. The train was not nearly as rickety as it should have been, so if Viktor closed his eyes it was almost as if they weren’t moving, but he knew the truth. The truth was that they were barreling through countryland so fast that he thought he could see birds exploding outside just from being too close to the sides. It was like the train was getting ready to be launched into orbit. 

Yuuri, for his part, was incredibly nonchalant about the entire experience. He seemed to be as blind to their oncoming doom as he was to Viktor’s white-knuckle grip on the seat rests. 

“We usually cook katsudon on Fridays, but I was thinking of mixing it up a little this week. What do you think? If we find tuna for cheap, we could make sushi. Or maybe udon. Any preferences?” Yuuri looked up from the shopping list he had scrawled out on a holographic screen on his wrist.The terrified look on Viktors face made him stutter to a halt. “Hey, are you okay? You’re white as a sheet.”

“What? No, I’m fine, completely fine. Nothing wrong at all.” A sheen of sweat was forming on Viktor’s forehead. He may have spoken a little louder than he intended, judging by Yuuri’s jump, but he was distracted by the scenery outside absolutely flying by. He felt like he was riding in a jet on the ground. Why was he the only one that seemed scared by their speed? Was he the only one noticing the train getting hotter? 

Viktor nearly jumped out of his skin when Yuuri placed a hand on his. He must have been more wound up than he had originally thought. Looking up, Yuuri looked extremely concerned. 

“Viktor, what’s wrong? You look like you’re going to throw up.” Yuuri’s face was so close. So very close. Viktor focused on his eyes, his eyebrows, his lips, his slight sprinkling of freckles, and felt himself relax slowly. If Yuuri wasn’t scared, there was no need for Viktor to be. The man was the nervous type, but Viktor didn’t mind taking social cues from him for stuff like this.

“We’re going too fast.” Viktor managed to whisper after a minute or so. Yuuri’s features softened a bit, and his hand curled around Viktor’s own encouragingly. It was getting hard to ignore the hot butterflies in Viktor’s stomach.

“It’s okay, I ride this train all the time. A few decades ago they redid all the tracks and mechanisms to be magnetic. There hasn’t been an accident in years, no amount of reasonable speed can make them jump the tracks.” Yuuri smiled. Viktor was very close to melting in his seat.

Yuuri squeezed Viktor hand and sat back a little, looking out the window. Viktor followed his gaze and was surprised that buildings had materialized in the distance. Having something to fix his eyes on that wasn’t directly outside the train helped him relax more, though he couldn’t manage to get his mind off of the warm fingers intertwined with his own. Was Yuuri doing this on purpose? Was casual touching normal in the future? Viktor hadn’t noticed anyone else doing it, but then again he hadn’t talked to many people yet. Maybe Yuuri was just trying to help him calm down. Little did he know that the longer the touch went on, the hotter Viktor became. He had to get his mind off of this before his hands got so sweaty Yuuri would have to let go.

Viktor made himself wonder what town would be like. The future had been pretty ordinary so far, but the world must have changed more than Yuuri wanted to let on. If holocubes and completely cordless electronics fit in easily with Yuuri’s old-fashioned living, then Viktor could only imagine what the advanced technology looked like. 

He didn’t have to wonder for very long. Not five minutes later, the train was slowing down and pulling up to a big building seemingly made entirely of windows. Most were normal, clear glass, but settled in the center where the train was pulling up was a intricate mural. The sun was in the right position for the panel to be lit up like a thousand jewels, sparkling like nothing he had ever seen before. As they got closer, Viktor saw that the window was composed of thousands of tiny pieces of glass, all arranged so that the glittering scene only looked better the closer you got. It depicted a nature scene with every color of flower Viktor could think of. Mount Fuji rose up behind it, the grey glass shimmering like smoke. A depiction of the train sat in the foreground, and the image was large enough that for a moment Viktor thought the train was real.

Yuuri had to let go of Viktor’s hand as they got up to leave, sadly, but the burning imprint of his hand stayed tingling on Viktor’s fingers for minutes after. It was a nice distraction from how out of his depths he was. The platform was as noisy as Viktor remembered from previous train rides, and he found a strange comfort in that. In Russia, he had hated people and noise. He still did, but something about the bustling platform was humbling in the best way. The glass mural was beaming multi-colored splotches onto the ground below, giving everything a sort of mystic feeling.

Viktor was reminded of his sleep with the shards of light, and the stress of the train ride dripped out of him like water. He was back in the world of warmth and color, only now there were people all around him. Each one was colored differently, giving them a certain quality of life Viktor had never seen before. The laughing girl on the phone was a touching shade of red. A businessman running across the platform had a very distinctive shade of orange following him everywhere. A baby and mother were mixing in shades of green and yellow, giggling to each other. Yuuri, standing next to him, was the most beautiful shade of blue Viktor had ever seen. It reminded him of the ocean, where the light blue of shallow water turned deep. The light swirled over his face and weaved through his hair, tangling in his eyelashes and tugging on his shirt buttons. Viktor had never seen someone who looked so beautiful in blue before. Small dots of cerulean sprinkled his shoulders. A lasting drop of cobalt danced over his ribs as Yuuri breathed. It was mesmerizing. 

Yuuri. Viktor noticed too late that he had stopped walking, and Yuuri was staring at him curiously. He cleared his throat, starting to walk again and ignoring the questioning looks from his friend. He had no time to get caught up in his thoughts right now, no matter how beautiful this man was. 

At first glance, town didn’t seem any different than Viktor remembered from his time. The basics were still the same, after all; the sun was shining, people were walking and talking, and cars hummed up and down the streets. However, little differences could be seen once Viktor looked at the details. People were talking into tiny triangular patches of light hanging around their ears. Every once in a while, Viktor saw a hologram appear in front of a person’s face, usually to be swiped away quickly. Dogs without leases seemed to magically stay right next to the person walking them, like they were on some sort of invisible chain. The sidewalk was nearly pristine, and swirling designs gave directions below the feet of everyone who was walking.

Viktor tried to imagine what the city would look like at night. Although there were street lamps here and there, he thought that the sidewalk itself could put out a good amount of light. How could that extent of lighting even be possible? Vikor stared at the ground by his feet, but it didn’t look any different than normal asphalt. It was like a living lights show springing out of rock.

Yuuri kept walking despite Viktor’s distraction, now and then touching his wrist to bring Viktor back into the moment. He wished Yuuri would just take his hand again, maybe even lace their fingers together, and guide him through the light crowd towards wherever they were going. But Viktor didn’t want to push anything onto Yuuri, especially since he didn’t want to reveal his crush, so he just did his best to keep up despite the literal hover cars humming almost soundlessly by.

What really caught Viktor off guard were the outfits. Most people were dressed in fashionable suits with cuts he had never seen before, or sundresses with incredibly intricate skirts, but every once in a while someone would cross their path that Viktor would stare at. One girl walked by wearing what looked like a crop top with long beaded chains along the hem. The strings affixed themselves to a skirt at a tantalizing length, showing off just the right amount of belly and leg. A man walked by with a shirt cut into a large X, leaving most of his ribs visible. Two young girls with glittery hair the color of carrots were giggling as they skipped by. Combinations of colors and metallics that Viktor had never imagined working flowed past him in the street, leaving him at a loss for words for most of the walk. He had never seen so many vibrant people in one place before. It was like everyone was dripping with personality. A part of him was intoxicated.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Yuuri spoke gently to him, voice distracted as he checked something on his wrist, “I think I will get the things for udon, that’s a good meal. I need to pick up more rice, though, so anything with that is still on the table. If you find something you’d like to try, we can do that too, there should be enough money left over.”

Yuuri closed his watch and smiled up at Viktor. He had to focus hard to keep his face from betraying how hard his heart was beating.

Viktor had underestimated the complexity of a supermarket. Sure, in concept it was no different than the ones back home, but Viktor’s inability to read Japanese made even simple errands for Yuuri difficult. He wanted to grant Yuuri the freedom of a relaxing grocery trip, but without fail every item Viktor brought back was not the right one he had been sent for.

Yuuri, for his part, was very sweet about the mistakes. Yuuri treated every mix up as a result of his inability to give directions, and Viktor didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was just a dumbass.

“This is sesame oil. I’m so sorry, I should have been more clear. It should be a green bottle, with a bamboo shoot on it.” Yuuri handed back the third wrong bottle of the trip, face a mask of guilt and apology. Viktor wanted to take Yuuri’s face in his hands and beg forgiveness at his own incompetence. He didn’t, of course, but he was tempted to.

“I’ll get the right one this time!” Viktor promised, taking the bottle and setting off back through the store. Finding the right aisle had been half the battle the first time Viktor ran this errand, but now he knew the exact right place to return to. He shuddered to think about having to learn more aisles before the day was up if he actually managed to complete this task.

There were four bottles that fit Yuuri’s description. Unfortunately, they were all from different parts of the aisle and were most likely not even close to the same thing. Yuuri had told him he was looking for an important sauce for katsudon, so Viktor eliminated the smallest two due to volume necessity. This would be so much easier if Viktor even understood what was in each bottle. He didn’t even know where to start with the characters.

“Deciding what to make for dinner?” A sweet voice echoed up to Viktor from his right. The smallest old lady Viktor had ever seen stood smiling up at him, eyes crinkling like they must have done a thousand times before. Viktor found himself smiling back, showing her the two options he had in his hand.

“In a way. Do you know which one is mi-...” Viktor stuttered over the word, furrowing his brows, “Mirin? I’m afraid I can’t make out the words.”

The lady gave a laugh, old and raspy and sweet as chocolate.

“Why, aren’t you just a snack? I had a feeling you weren’t from around here, I’m good with these things. You have that look in your eye. Here, this one is mirin.” She tapped gently against one of the bottles in Viktor’s hand. He grinned and thanked her sincerely, placing the other bottle back. Almost shyly, she pointed up to the top shelf, “Would you mind handing that to me, dear? I’m not as nimble as I used to be.”

Viktor smiled, reaching the bottle in question easily. 

“Why, you can’t be more than 35, I would say you’ve got plenty of spring in you.” Viktor gave the woman a wink as he handed her the bottle.

“Oh, my.” She flashed him a grin and placed a hand on her cheek. With everything going wrong in his life, at least Viktor could still charm an old lady. That made him bloom with happiness inside as he bid her a goodbye and watched her walk away.

Yuuri was up at the front of the store once Viktor caught up again, scanning things at a computer that looked much too advanced for the rest of the building. He had worked through about half of his basket, which was full to the brim with fresh ingredients, and Viktor felt a little embarrassed that he had spent the entire trip trying to locate one bottle of sauce.

If this fact seemed to bother Yuuri, he didn’t let on. He just took the bottle and smiled at Viktor, thanking him. That definitely didn’t make Viktor’s chest swell with pride. 

Viktor was helping Yuuri scan items when he heard a soft hum behind him. It was the old lady again, waiting for the register and smiling at Viktor.

“You know, you look just like someone I used to know,” The woman said wistfully, and Viktor could feel Yuuri start listening beside him.

“Do I?”

“Yes. Or someone that I saw once, when I was a young lady. You look so much like him it’s uncanny. I always have been good with faces. I’ve seen that look you have in your eye before.” 

Viktor didn’t know where she was going with this, but if there was one thing he loved it was answering people’s strange questions. He had gotten pretty good at it with his fans, much to Yakov’s chagrin. 

“I’m afraid I haven’t met you before. There’s no way I could forget a face that beautiful.” Viktor grinned, and the old woman was once again flattered. Yuuri was deathly silent beside him, hardly even breathing at this point.

“Such a gentleman. But I know I have seen you before. If only I knew where…” The old woman thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers, “I know! You look just like an ice skater I met once! I had met him during the Olympics and he was the most beautiful man I have ever met in my life. His name was Viktor something, all I remember about his last name was that it was Russian. He was in that horrible crash way back when. Are you related to him by chance?”

Viktor hoped that his face didn’t give away how his heart just stopped. He hadn’t met anyone who recognized him for years, disregarding his time spent frozen. And this woman had just walked up and identified him on the spot. He swallowed the dry air in his mouth, feeling strange nervous tingles run down his neck. It had never occurred to him that he might have to explain how he hadn’t aged to a fan before. He had hoped he had faded into obscurity before the operation even happened. 

“I’m afraid I am no skater, nor am I related to him,” Viktor lied, trying to breathe again, “Although I am very flattered to be mistaken for an Olympian.” 

Yuuri was done at the register now and was pulling Viktor out of the conversation. Viktor took them happily, bidding another goodbye to the old woman before practically running behind Yuuri out of the store.

“That was too close,” Yuuri said when they got outside, pressing a hand to his chest, “We’re supposed to release the news of you waking up subtly to the world, but I never expected someone to recognize you.”

Viktor hadn’t either. It had taken him by surprise more than anything else he had experienced so far. He looked at Yuuri, suddenly wondering how much research went into the test subjects in cryosleep. Yuuri didn’t seem at all surprised that Viktor had gone to the Olympics, nor did he look the least bit curious. 

“We still have time before the train comes, “ Yuuri said, voice still a bit shaky, “Why don’t we get some coffee?”

There were plenty of coffee shops next to the train station, so Viktor and Yuuri chose one at random and went in. The smoky aroma of roasted coffee wrapped around Viktor, nearly making him drop his grocery bags. For a brief moment, he was back home, content in St. Petersburg before the accident. He could spend hours in a coffee shop back then, slowly working through cups until the sun was low in the sky and the warmth in his heart was burning a pleasant hole in his chest. A trickle of that warmth was still here, flooding his stomach with lukewarm energy in a small attempt to bring his soul back to life. It was a pleasant reminder that he still had one to begin with. 

Yuuri was sitting down at a small table next to the window, so Viktor set his bags next to him, grateful to be free of the weight. Bright red lines cut their way across his hands where the handles had dug in. All at once, he was very tired. 

“You should sit for a bit. You’re not yet used to walking around this much.” Yuuri placed a hand on Viktor’s shoulder, guiding him into a chair. Yuuri’s hand was gentle, but Viktor nearly fell onto the seat anyways, his legs deciding they had had enough. He felt like he had just completed a competition but forgot to stretch beforehand. His legs hadn’t been this weak in years. Well, years before being frozen, so decades was probably a more accurate term. 

Yuuri went to the front and ordered them some coffees, then returned. For all the advances of the future, Viktor was happy to see an actual person managing the front. It added a sort of familiar, calming presence to the shop. Looking over, Viktor realized he had been caught staring at the barista by Yuuri.

“I’m just surprised there’s actual people working here. The grocery store was all automated.” 

Something like a relieved smile flashed over Yuuri’s lips. For a moment, Viktor felt like he was missing something that should be obvious. 

“Of course. In Kyoto, a lot of coffee shops are automated like everything else, but for smaller towns this isn’t uncommon. It gives the school kids something to do, and everyone really seems to like it. They tried putting in a shop with a bunch of AI’s, but it was closed almost immediately.” Yuuri was cut off by the young man bringing their drinks over.

If Viktor didn’t know better, he would be convinced that he was in his own time. The barista was dressed the same as every barista he had ever seen, quite a contrast from the neon and metallic fashions just outside. He supposed the outfit would be considered retro now, sort of like the clothes he himself was wearing. The barista said something in Japanese as he set a steaming cup in front of Viktor. 

“Thank yo-” Viktor halted when he looked up at the man’s face. He was very handsome, although not as good looking as Yuuri, but that wasn’t what made him stop. “Your eyes.”

“You like them? I just had them done last week at that new shop downtown. Well worth the money.” The young man smiled at Viktor as he switched into smooth English. His eyes were the same color as the cream Viktor liked to put in his coffee, just on the brown side of beige. The color was separated from the whites of his eyes by a light brown ring, fashionably faded into the center like blended pencil lead. With every move of his pupil, the man’s iris’s lit up like diamonds, sparkling like fallen snow in the sunlight. It was simply mesmerizing. Before Viktor could look any longer, the man turned and walked away, leaving Viktor breathless.

He didn’t know why, but he felt like he had just met an angel. It was like someone had dumped glitter into the boy’s retinas and sent him out into the world. Simply put, it was ethereal. 

Viktor picked up his cup and looked to Yuuri, eyes wide in excitement. Yuuri, for his part, seemed very amused as he sipped his coffee.

“Is that normal now? Do people turn their eyes into arts and crafts tables?” Viktor didn’t mean it like a joke, but Yuuri snorted anyway, almost choking on his coffee. He prayed that the barista was far enough away that they couldn’t hear them anymore, but Yuuri’s giggling was making that more improbable as the seconds went by.

“Sort of. It’s unusual, because the procedure is very painful, but eye tattoos have been getting a lot more popular since Shimmer hit the market. It does the sparkle effect that he has. It’s rare to see it paired with a color fade, though, he must not have this job for the money.” Yuuri thoughtfully drank from his cup, and Viktor followed suit. The bitter liquid was heaven to his mouth. 

“Eye tattoos? How does that work?” 

Yuuri looked very uncomfortable. His teeth came out to catch on his lower lip, and Viktor forgot his own name for a half second.

“Like I said, it’s painful. I don’t really like to think about it too much. It’s an injection that you get around your… Well, it’s an injection. Permanent, but reversible. And expensive.” Yuuri’s hands were fidgeting again. Viktor wondered if Yuuri was someone who always needed their hands on something or they would get restless. He could work with that. Before Viktor could ask any further, Yuuri changed the subject, clearly uncomfortable talking about the procedure.

“I’m really more interested in that woman back there. Did you talk to her at all about your past? You didn’t even mention the Olympics in your background form.”

Viktor smiled sheepishly at that. He couldn’t remember much about the paperwork he filled out before the operation, but he did remember lying where he could. Sure, he had mentioned that he was an athlete, but the Olympian part wasn’t important so why should he write it down? He had never expected to be called out on it. 

“It must have slipped my mind. I didn’t talk to her about it, I hardly do to anyone. It’s not like it’s a big deal.”

Yuuri set his cup down, a little harder than was probably necessary. 

“You went to the Olympics, made figure skating history, and it was no big deal? I didn’t even make it to the Olympics.”

“How do you know that? Wait, you’re a figure skater?” Viktor was shocked. Yuuri was so scientific all the time, he couldn’t imagine him skating. Much less competing. Viktor wondered if he was any good, or if it was more of a recreational thing. Maybe he could help him compose a routine, he had a few in his back pocket that he never got the chance to polish. Absently, Viktor’s fingers went to the locket that sat around his neck, fingers trailing over the gold like they had a hundred times before. Yuuri would look good skating to the On Love soundtrack he had been working with.

Yuuri blushed under Viktor’s scrutiny, his fingers fiddling with the handle on his cup. Suddenly, he wouldn’t meet Viktor’s eyes. 

“I’ve been skating since before I can remember. Back in Hasetsu, we would play games on the ice where we would pretend to be competition skaters. I never had the hair length to choose you, but I did anyway, despite how Takeshi would tease me. You really were a driving force for me back then, especially when we took you into custody. I made it all the way to the Grand Prix Final a while back, but I got nervous and came in 6th. I lost inspiration after that. That’s when I started working more for my dad here, convinced a few retiring competitors to come with me. I didn’t really have a reason to be serious with it after I lost.”

Viktor could feel the sadness coming off of Yuuri. Something told him that that wasn’t the entire story, but he didn’t want to pry any further.

“Maybe I could help you start again. After all, I’ve been told I’m a rather good skater. That is, if you want me to teach you some moves.”

Yuuri choked on his coffee, his flush deepening as he backpedaled hard.

“No, no, I couldn’t ask that of you! I’m happy here, really. I’m not even in proper form anymore, I couldn’t-” Yuuri cut off as Viktor reached over and touched his chin. He wasn’t sure why, but just a tiny bit of the confidence he had once had was returning, making the simple contact much easier than it should have been.

“I could be your coach. With my guidance, there’s no way you wouldn’t win gold.”

If Yuuri got any hotter, steam would be blowing out of his ears. His face was blood red, from his scalp to where his collarbone peeked out from his shirt, and Viktor was living for it. His eyes darted from Viktor’s eyes to his lips and then back, like he wasn’t quite sure if he was dreaming or not. Viktor had to stop himself from smirking as his thumb came up to trail right on the rim of Yuuri’s lip. Yuuri sputtered for a moment and pulled away, averting his eyes as his hands flew to the back of his neck. 

“I’m not in much shape to do that either, though,” Viktor withdrew his hand and took a sip of his coffee, “Why don’t we just skate for fun sometime? Just to get back in the habit.”

Yuuri looked back up at him and nodded, slowly calming down. Was it the touch to the chin that had gotten him so flustered? Or was Yuuri embarrassed about being coached? He didn’t want to read into it, but something hopeful was blooming in Viktor’s chest. 

Conversation came easily after that. Now that they had something solid to latch onto, Yuuri and Viktor started exchanging encounters and funny stories from their times as skaters. The coffee steadily went down, and Viktor laughed so hard his stomach ached when he tried to stand. It was getting easier to forget that he hadn’t known Yuuri his whole life. 

The stores right next to the train station catered mostly to tourists, and although Viktor desperately wanted to go in and get one of the holographic keychains Yuuri was directing him a block or two away. The lunch rush was beginning to die down so it was easy to stay by Yuuri’s side as they walked. Viktor pointed out every little thing that he found interesting or odd. Yuuri managed to answer all of his rapid-fire questions with ease, a smile on his lips that seemed to only grow as Viktor’s curiosity got greater. 

They were only a few blocks away from the station, but the neighborhood was entirely different. It didn’t feel homey like the area around the grocery store, nor was it very touristy, but the street had a very calm demeanor to it anyway. Looking around, Viktor noticed mostly higher end restaurants and clothing stores. Yuuri ducked into one that didn’t look terribly fancy and handed Viktor a small computer chip. 

“Here, that has about 400 units on it. That should be enough for a few shirts and some pants.” 

Viktor felt like he could cry. Yuuri didn’t even know the gift he was giving him. It had been so long since he had been clothes shopping. When was the last time he had the money to do so? 

The store was not to the normal standards that Viktor was accustomed to searching for clothes in, but he wasn’t about to be picky. There were at least four different types of fabrics, and that was all he needed. Viktor took his time at every rack, even the ones he knew he wouldn’t buy anything from, just marveling at the clothes. Some had the same look as what people were wearing outside, but Viktor wasn’t real impressed with that type of fashion. He wanted something that looked nice and actually fit him. Something with a v-neck.

“What about this?” Yuuri held out a green shirt that looked like something Viktor wore when he was a kid. The hesitation must have been obvious of his face, because Yuuri put it back without further comment. Viktor came to stand beside Yuuri, maybe a bit closer than was completely necessary, and touched a version of the shirt in black. 

“This would probably look good on you.” 

“We’re not here for me. I have a shirt like that already.” Yuuri’s breathlessness was obvious in his voice. He shuffled to the right and picked up another shirt. “Here, I think you should try this one.”

It was grey and looked incredibly soft. Viktor added it to the pile.

A handful of minutes later, Viktor was being pushed into a weird-looking tube at the back of the store, arms full of shirts. Apparently, according to Yuuri, these were dressing rooms, but they looked more like escape pods from a spaceship. The inside didn’t look much different from the outside, save for the full-length mirror on one side, a few hooks, and a strange hole in the wall about a foot tall. 

Viktor tried on the things he had picked out first, anxious to get back into something that actually fit him. Everything was slightly loose, but Yuuri had assured him that that would change once he started building up body mass again. Judging by the way his ribs stuck out when he wasn’t even holding his breath, Viktor didn’t doubt it.

The clothes felt wonderful. For a moment, Viktor had the strongest sense of nostalgia. Of all the parts of skating he missed, the outfits was probably the largest. Nothing could calm him on the inside like a bit of spandex or rayon on the outside. He and Chris out spend hours in clothing stores, not even buying anything. Just trying on whatever they liked.

A familiar hum resonated from the hole in the wall next to the mirror. Suddenly, holocube lights burst forth, filling the small space with a miniature replica of Viktor himself. Unlike the ones back at the house, this one faded into color, so it was like having a tiny version of his body in the room with him. Viktor reached out and touched the holograph hesitantly, and the image spun around to the back. 

“What an interesting way to look at clothes.” Viktor marveled, directing his attention away from the image. He still prefered to look at the mirror to see if he looked good. The hologram was still a nice backup, though. He could see his own ass in real time.

Towards the end of the pile, Viktor found the shirt that Yuuri had picked up for him. It was a cotton blend that Viktor had never seen before, but it had the v-neck that he loved so much. Slipping it on gave Viktor goosebumps. It was the softest and most comfortable shirt he had ever worn. He could sleep in this shirt if it didn’t look so good on him. It was cut right to the waist of his pants and draped elegantly down his sides, showing off the slight jut of his hips. Best of all, it framed his collar bone perfectly. Plus Yuuri had picked it out, so how could he not buy it?

A screen popped up on the full-length mirror. None of the words were decipherable, but there was a small button for another language at the bottom. Viktor almost pressed English, but the Russian option caught his eye. Seeing the letters were a greater comfort than he imagined, so he went with that one to what looked like a check-out screen. 

After selecting the items he wanted to buy and purchasing them with the chip, the door behind Viktor opened and let him out. He gathered his things and stepped out, walking around until he found Yuuri.

Yuuri was by the exit, checking something on his wrist, but smiled at Viktor as he stepped closer. A half second later, Yuuri froze, staring at Viktor as he got closer. Viktor thought he saw his nostrils flaring, his eyes wide like he wanted to devour Viktor on the spot. It was then that Viktor realized he had never switched back into the shirt he was wearing originally, and had left the grey one on. Apparently it looked better than he thought it had. 

A second later the look was gone, replaced with a kind smile and a touch of pink to Yuuri’s cheeks. Viktor was half certain that he had imagined the entire thing. 

“Ready to go?” Yuuri stepped out and back onto the street, waiting for Viktor so he wouldn’t be trailing behind. They had a lot to do before dinner tonight. Starting with the death train back to the house. There wasn’t time to focus on whether or not Viktor was being too obvious with his romantic advances. Viktor nodded, stepping out of the store and letting Yuuri lead them back to the station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what types of things you think should be discussed at dinner, or just what you think of the story so far! What scenes would you really like to see? What bad pickup lines should Viktor use? Just want to tell me that I'm doing something right or wrong? Please comment! I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly, thank you for reading


	5. Cotton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps the goings on of the facility are not as smooth as they appear from the outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know its been like 6 months. No, I have no excuse other than just generally being busy with school. This is a short chapter, but the next one is almost done as well! I'm not dead, just tired. Thank you for sticking with me! As always, leave me a note and let me know what you think!

There was a certain crisp to the air tonight. The sun was only beginning to set, but the warmth that usually accompanied it had evaporated. It smelled of rain already but the only clouds in sight were touching the trees around the horizon, so where the smell was coming from was a mystery. Maybe it was just the cherry blossoms breathing out a sigh at the warmer weather. It was easy to imagine the leaves singing their happiness at the end of the snowfalls, rustling off the last vestiges of chill before unfurling into the sun’s warmth. Perhaps now spring had finally begun and there would be no more ice for a few months. It was almost a pity.

The rooftop at this place, the Ice Castle of Human Popsicles, was easily the best part. There weren’t any walls to make the thoughts bounce back. There weren’t any people to ask what he was doing up here. There was never a lack of color, especially with the sunsets splashing hues or red and orange over the clouds and evening stars. Even after dark, the stream of the nightway kept the sky alive and clear in a pulse of viridian and crimson. 

It wasn’t until the sky was darkened and the air turned cold and the nightway was weaving its way through the stars that Yuuri turned back to go into the house. There was a certain peace out here that nestled close to his heart. It was the closest he had gotten to contentment in a long while.

Entering the house felt like jamming cotton balls into his ears until only the dullest of sensations could come through. Slowly, he could feel the emotion from watching the sky fading, like how his smile was prone to fall from his cheeks the moment he unlaced his skates. The only things left were from rote memory: the clicking of his shoes, curving around walls, smooth polyester railings under his hands. Every sensation began to blend into one, giant, uninteresting tug at his skin. 

The fading light caught in the corners of the window sills, twinkling in Yuuri’s peripheral. When he was a child, he would run through the halls chasing the lights between the cracks in the wood, stuffing them with cotton balls and claiming he was helping insulate the house. Now he let it go. 

Yuuri was tired of brown. Brown walls and brown furniture and brown trees and brown life. Even his eyes were brown, which only seemed fitting to his dull life. At one time he could see the variations in color between the faux wood paneling in the halls, but now everything just looked like mud. He would take white over all this brown. White was snow and ice and skates and marshmallows. White would at least make him feel like a scientist.

His mind came back to him as he picked up his clipboard, hands still damp from washing. His father was insistent that the facility was run like a hospital, so sanitation was top priority. Right below that was patient care. Luckily, Yuuri could care for his patients easier than any other people he had ever encountered. 

Rows of yellowing bags were distributed in comfortable amounts in twenty or so connected rooms. One long hallway hooked a U-shape on the outside of the building and branched into long rooms along each side. He opened the first door and started checking vitals of his first patients, humming absentmindedly as he went.

Vitamin solvents, nutrition supplements, temperature control, and everything else his human popsicles needed to survive was done solely by yours truly. Yuuri’s father had taught him the ropes young and gave the job over to him. He never even noticed diluting food solutions anymore he had done it so often. It was routine and helped his chemistry in school and until Viktor emerged it was frankly boring. It was like studying his mother’s teacup collection every day, checking for chips. Every face was nostalgic, but he was waiting for the day someone would come to replace him. 

Room one showed all steady vitals, so Yuuri moved to the next. And the next. His mind stayed as bare as the walls and face as lifeless as the fake flowers in the vases. The real entertainment was downstairs helping cook while he was working. He wished he could go help. He wished he could go make Viktor smile and laugh and watch him dance around the kitchen island. He wished he could go skate.

Room four showed slight anomalies. This position on the other side of the U was where Viktor had woken, so perhaps the electronics were frying. Yuuri double-checked each pod and eventually got all but one back to normal. He glanced inside at the culprit.

A young man, too young, that was all high cheekbones and blond hair and calm features sat motionless in the liquid. His vitals showed a slightly high heartbeat. Yuuri tapped the computer, but nothing changed. He was honestly surprised the thing still worked, considering the age and the damage it had endured. That story had been Yuuri’s fault. He was a child at the time, jealous of losing his home and his father’s attention. An older child asleep with the same name was an easy target for him. His father had handled the situation smoothly, simply happy the pod hadn’t ruptured, and actually found the “O” Yuuri carved into the metal endearing. Their guest had been dubbed Yurio since, and the incident laid immortalized in the nameplate.

Yuuri flipped to Viktor’s file at the back of his clipboard. He hadn’t shown any signs of waking outside of the few minutes he took to gain consciousness. Any one of these pods could pop without any notice. Yuuri made a mental note to write about Yurio in his next report. 

Viktor’s photo made Yuuri hesitate. He looked almost identical, the photo being taken before the experiment, and Yuuri found himself tracing Viktors’ jaw with his eyes. He was even more skin-and-bones back then. He wondered softly what drove him to cryogenics. The bags under his eyes were deep and dark. He had a sort of sickly pallor about him that was ingrained into his skin, making him seem almost feverish. His eyes looked the way Yuuri felt: muted and full of cotton. 

Despite this, he was the most beautiful man Yuuri had ever seen. Even when his picture was on the wall with every other patient, Yuuri had found him beautiful. It was almost difficult to view him as a person or as someone with a similar mental age as himself. He was like a celebrity. Yuuri had had a bit of a reprieve when Viktor was gruff. It was easy not to get attached when his patients were rude. Perhaps this relationship would had stayed professional, and Yuuri could have finally dispelled this childish crush.

But nooo, Viktor had to be absolutely perfect. He never refused to indulge Yuuri’s wishes or showed disinterest in his work or expressed discomfort in the fact he was three decades displaced. He had to be all sexy in the coffee shop and wear sexy gray t-shirts and smile that gorgeous, brilliant smile. It was unfair. Yuuri realized the he was still staring at Viktor’s photo. Feeling slightly hot, he flipped the papers forward and continued to check vitals.

For how dull his work was, Yuuri was good at it and the time passed quickly. Before he knew it, the patients were squared away and Yuuri was sanitizing again. He just needed to do a fast, recorded oral report and his work was finished. He was probably fast enough to help Viktor in the kitchen. The thought lifting his spirits a little and Yuuri found a hint of a smile playing around his lips as he worked his way through the halls back to his room.

His name caught his attention behind him. The sound of it was like ice crystals crawling down his spine. Yuuri’s smile fell. Of all the years he had yearned to hear that voice, now that he was in a position to hear it regularly it was the most dreaded part of his day. 

“Yuuri. How is the rehabilitation coming?” Father’s voice was soft. It made Yuuri’s insides curl unpleasantly. No matter what the words or connotation, his voice was always soft. It made everything he said sound cutting.

Yuuri didn’t say anything. He hadn’t told Viktor the extent of how they were deviating from the rehabilitation procedures. Some part of him was scared that if he did, Viktor would insist they do it the right way, and then he would be gone. Forever.

Father sighed, slipping his hands into his pockets. Yuuri could imagine that if he wasn’t his son, he would have been fired by now. Taking Victor out of the house, especially into town where he could be recognized, had been specifically forbidden. 

“Your progress reports have been insufficient lately. We need to talk. I can let the dinner tonight slide, but tomorrow we must continue on schedule. You know what’s going to happen if we don’t.” 

The worst thing about the monotony of his days was how the clouds would part for the voice of his father. The days and weeks could blend together in this place, but Father’s voice slipped like rocks into water in Yuuri’s mind and rattled in there indefinitely. He had stopped wishing they were kind words long ago. 

Father opened the door to his office and headed inside. Yuuri tucked his chin into his chest to hide his face and the troubled look upon it. Feeling like a child heading in for a scolding, Yuuri followed his father into the room and flinched at the locks clicking behind them.


End file.
